The week in review: The bell tolls for the coalition

There was good news for the coalition this week and plenty of it. You didn't notice, of course. No-one cares. But if we were at a different point in the electoral cycle it would have been more prominent.

Such is the dire state of the coalition's popularity that no-one noticed, let alone commented, on any of this. Instead, we mocked David Cameron and Nick Clegg for the fact they looked like they could barely stand each other during a lethargic coalition relaunch. The pair have an uncanny ability to prompt less faith in the government every relaunch they do. This event saw them unveil lots more rail spending – in two years time. It was deflating and did nothing to counter the idea they were running out of steam.

There was more bad news to come. Polls showed a startling phenomenon: Tory voters were growing less likely to go to the polls. This reversal of electoral truisms was not much commented on, but it will have made faces go white at Tory HQ. The discipline of their voters is one of the key factors which keeps the Tories competing for Downing Street.

Next, Cameron gave a 'temple of doom' interview to the Telegraph in which he decided to run on an austerity-forever ticket. It was as dour an interview as a prime minister has given since the Germans were toying with invading.

Then something predictable and dreadful happened: The IMF basically lost faith in George Osborne. Its report into UK economic performance pretty much demanded he adopt a Plan B and warned of long-term consequences if he didn't. Worst of all, they predicted Osborne was about to miss one of his golden rules – the very same thing for which he used to attack Gordon Brown. That could lose the UK its credit rating, increase interest rates and generally destroy the coalition's entire reason for existing.